Exentryk
Member
The following is an analysis of the gameplay shown off in the Active Time Report by Hajime Tabata on 20th Feb, 2015. To note, I do not understand Japanese, and thus I have no idea what Tabata explained in the video. However, I have used translated information from various sources. If you have some corrections, please share.
Controls: (PS4)
Left Stick: Movement
Right Stick: Camera
L3: Dash (Characters will auto climb obstacles in dash mode)
X: Jump
|_|: Attack (hold or mash for combo)
O: Warp
/\: Weapon Ability
L1: Guard (Consumes MP, signified by blue light)
R1: Lock on
L1+R1: Initiate Phantom Sword
R1+O: Shift Break (Ex Ability)
L1+X: Shift Avoid (Ex Ability)
Dpad Left/Right: Switch between main weapon special abilities
Unused so far:
R2:
L2:
You can watch this video which shows these basic controls in action:
http://youtu.be/0BjgVETH6S8?t=14m57s
HUD:
The bottom right UI shows character names and HP, buffs/ailments, the MP bar, and critical condition warning. The bottom left shows weapon ability, its MP cost, total MP available at the time, and the player's current action.
In the gifs below, the different coloured HP bars mean the following:
White HP bar: The white bar shows default HP for the characters.
Red HP bar: The red bar shows HP that will recover automatically via idling/cover (unless you are on 0 HP).
Black HP bar: The black bar shows the HP that cannot be recovered (unless you use potions).
Now, when Noctis reaches 0 HP (white bar), the red bar of HP remains. This isn't gameover, but only actions he can perform are run around, or use items to heal into white HP. Gameover occurs when Noctis's red HP reaches 0.
If one of the ally character is at 0 white HP, Noctis can run up to him and recover his health. Other ally characters can also cast "Cure" etc to heal allies.
After the battle ends (or you flee), everyone is revived from critical condition and the red HP automatically recovers into white HP.
Battle Menu:
The battle menu can be opened at any time (even during a battle). This allows the player to use items, equip weapons for Noctis and the party, etc. In the demo, you wont be able to change the rest of your partys equipment however.
Guard:
Guarding works by pressing or holding down the Guard button. This lets Noctis automatically evade enemy attacks, but it consumes MP. MP, however, only gets consumed when an attack is evaded. This means one can hold down Guard while idling to avoid blindside attacks.
Idling and Cover:
When not performing any actions, Noctis's HP and MP recover at a slow rate. HP and MP will recover while the player is standing still, moving, dashing, or even holding down guard.
If Noctis is really struggling though, he can take cover behind objects (rocks, trees etc) and this will highly speed up HP and MP recovery. The cover mode can be started by walking up to a rock, and pressing the L1 (guard) button. Also, the HP and MP will recover at a similar rate when Noctis is warped to a high location and out of enemies' range.
Warp:
Warping involves locking on to enemies or terrain based points and then warping to them via the Circle button. Warping costs 25 MP per warp. The examples of warps can be seen below:
There is also another type of warp that can be performed when you don't have any target selected. This short warp lets you travel a small distance in front quickly. This can be useful to reach an ally that is in critical condition, or to just get away from a group of enemies.
Attack:
Pressing the attack button lets Noctis execute a single sword strike. Holding down the button or pressing the button multiple times will execute a basic combo. You can also jump and press attack to perform aerial attacks.
When enemies are in a weaker state, attacks start doing more damage (critical hits). This can be seen below:
Weapons:
Noctis being a weapon summoner, the game has lots of weapons that can be obtained and set up in menu to perform various actions. These are the weapons available in the demo that we know so far - Avenger, Blood Sword, Partisan, Wyvern Spear and Zweihander. Most of these weapon have special abilities and support abilities. For example, Blood Sword comes with HP drain special ability, along with MP Recovery Attack++ and Automatic Recovery+ support abilities.
In the demo, you can set different weapons for: Break, Rush, Slash, Counter and Raid. The weapons in this game change automatically. So, if you press the Attack button, depending on factors, a suitable weapon will get used.
BREAK: An enemy stance breaking first strike. The Break weapon gets automatically used when Noctis starts a combo. In the video, the player has Avenger set as the Break weapon. Avenger has no abilities, but is a quick weapon and has balanced stats.
RUSH: Rapid fire strikes in the middle of the combo. You can continue your Rush weapon hits indefinitely until your enemy reaches low enough health to be finished off with a finisher (Slash). The player in the video has the Blood Sword set as the Rush weapon. It has the special ability of HP drain (gif below shows it in action).
SLASH: The last hit of the combo, which deals a significant amount of damage. When the enemy reaches low enough HP that it can be killed in one hit, then your Slash Weapon will get used. The player has the Partizan set as the Slash weapon. Partizan has Heavy Thrust as the special ability (shown in gif below). Tabata highly recommends using heavy weapons as the finisher, like the Partizan. Heavy weapon on Finishers will stagger even slightly larger enemies.
COUNTER: The weapon set here will get used when Noctis counterattacks. This can be after successfully evading an enemy attack with Guard and pressing Attack right after. Noctis can also counterattack after successful parries. The player has the Wyvern Sword set as the Counter weapon, which has Jump as the special ability (show in gif below).
Here is a Counter in action:
RAID: The weapon set here will get used when the player jumps and presses attack in mid air. The player has the Zweihander set as the Raid weapon, which has the special ability called Tempest (see gif below). Tabata clarified that Aerial Attacks are moved to the last part of development since they are among the easiest so the demo wont include too much aerial combat.
And an example of an Aerial Attack can be seen here:
Different weapons have different speeds, weight, range etc, and so it is important to think about which weapon works better where.
Parries and Co-op Attacks:
Some enemy attacks can be parried and countered. In the gif below, the UI element that shows a small arc with three lines signifies that an attack can be parried. The guard button (L1) is used to initiate the parry, and then the Attack button (Square) has to be timed when the counter prompt comes up.
Parries can also chain into Co-Op Attacks. Notice that Square gets pressed twice, first to initiate Prompto's/Ignis's hit, and then for Noctis's swipe.
The co op attacks can only be performed if an ally character is close by when you parry an enemy. Tabata has shared that the co-op moves are really strong and that there is only one co-op move in the demo. It disrupts the balance because they are gradually learned through growth.
Phantom Sword:
This is a special ability that Noctis can activate at max MP with the press of L1+R1. This ability allows Noctis to summon all his Phantom Sword weapons at the same time. When activated, MP starts depleting at a constant rate until it reaches 0. During this time, all abilities cost 0 MP, so they can be spammed.
The normal weapons you regularly use in battle are completely different than the Phantom Sword summon weapons. When you start the demo, you have regular weapons and those wont increase, but you can obtain the Phantom Swords. The Phantom Swords are scattered around on the map, and you obtain them by searching. This is one of the extra elements outside of the story line.
There are two aspects to Phantom Sword - Defence/Idle or Offense.
When defending or idling, the phantom weapons start circling Noctis creating a barrier that reduces/negates enemy attacks.
When attacking, the barrier disappears and the swords start attacking the targeted enemy one by one from above. Each phantom sword falling on the enemy deals damage in addition to the damage Noctis is dealing with his moves.
Noctis also gains the ability of Shift Break (R1+O), which essentially are small warps to close in on enemies. He also gains Shift Avoid (L1+X), but that does not get used in the video, so its purpose is unclear at this stage.
(Note: Even though these shift moves have corresponding buttons, I think they happen automatically. For example, if you are far from an enemy and hold down the Attack button, Noctis will automatically perform Shift Breaks until he gets closer to the enemy. I think so because the basic attack button is held down when Noctis performs the Shift Break. Another point to note is that beside the emblem (Akyueshiro) is a left and right scroll marker, which means there might be even more powers for the actual game.)
And if I'm not forgetting anything, that's pretty much it. Hopefully this makes you a bit more prepared for Final Fantasy XV's combat in the upcoming demo.
---
Credits:
@LeonBlade (for translated images - Weapons, Battle Menu, Weapon Menu)
Raven777 and DarkLordMalik (for some gifs)
Kotaku (Controls)
Gematsu (Main points translated)
Reddit (Weapon System Translation)
Controls: (PS4)
Left Stick: Movement
Right Stick: Camera
L3: Dash (Characters will auto climb obstacles in dash mode)
X: Jump
|_|: Attack (hold or mash for combo)
O: Warp
/\: Weapon Ability
L1: Guard (Consumes MP, signified by blue light)
R1: Lock on
L1+R1: Initiate Phantom Sword
R1+O: Shift Break (Ex Ability)
L1+X: Shift Avoid (Ex Ability)
Dpad Left/Right: Switch between main weapon special abilities
Unused so far:
R2:
L2:
You can watch this video which shows these basic controls in action:
http://youtu.be/0BjgVETH6S8?t=14m57s
HUD:
The bottom right UI shows character names and HP, buffs/ailments, the MP bar, and critical condition warning. The bottom left shows weapon ability, its MP cost, total MP available at the time, and the player's current action.
In the gifs below, the different coloured HP bars mean the following:
White HP bar: The white bar shows default HP for the characters.
Red HP bar: The red bar shows HP that will recover automatically via idling/cover (unless you are on 0 HP).
Black HP bar: The black bar shows the HP that cannot be recovered (unless you use potions).
Now, when Noctis reaches 0 HP (white bar), the red bar of HP remains. This isn't gameover, but only actions he can perform are run around, or use items to heal into white HP. Gameover occurs when Noctis's red HP reaches 0.
If one of the ally character is at 0 white HP, Noctis can run up to him and recover his health. Other ally characters can also cast "Cure" etc to heal allies.
After the battle ends (or you flee), everyone is revived from critical condition and the red HP automatically recovers into white HP.
Battle Menu:
The battle menu can be opened at any time (even during a battle). This allows the player to use items, equip weapons for Noctis and the party, etc. In the demo, you wont be able to change the rest of your partys equipment however.
Guard:
Guarding works by pressing or holding down the Guard button. This lets Noctis automatically evade enemy attacks, but it consumes MP. MP, however, only gets consumed when an attack is evaded. This means one can hold down Guard while idling to avoid blindside attacks.
Idling and Cover:
When not performing any actions, Noctis's HP and MP recover at a slow rate. HP and MP will recover while the player is standing still, moving, dashing, or even holding down guard.
If Noctis is really struggling though, he can take cover behind objects (rocks, trees etc) and this will highly speed up HP and MP recovery. The cover mode can be started by walking up to a rock, and pressing the L1 (guard) button. Also, the HP and MP will recover at a similar rate when Noctis is warped to a high location and out of enemies' range.
Warp:
Warping involves locking on to enemies or terrain based points and then warping to them via the Circle button. Warping costs 25 MP per warp. The examples of warps can be seen below:
There is also another type of warp that can be performed when you don't have any target selected. This short warp lets you travel a small distance in front quickly. This can be useful to reach an ally that is in critical condition, or to just get away from a group of enemies.
Attack:
Pressing the attack button lets Noctis execute a single sword strike. Holding down the button or pressing the button multiple times will execute a basic combo. You can also jump and press attack to perform aerial attacks.
When enemies are in a weaker state, attacks start doing more damage (critical hits). This can be seen below:
Weapons:
Noctis being a weapon summoner, the game has lots of weapons that can be obtained and set up in menu to perform various actions. These are the weapons available in the demo that we know so far - Avenger, Blood Sword, Partisan, Wyvern Spear and Zweihander. Most of these weapon have special abilities and support abilities. For example, Blood Sword comes with HP drain special ability, along with MP Recovery Attack++ and Automatic Recovery+ support abilities.
In the demo, you can set different weapons for: Break, Rush, Slash, Counter and Raid. The weapons in this game change automatically. So, if you press the Attack button, depending on factors, a suitable weapon will get used.
BREAK: An enemy stance breaking first strike. The Break weapon gets automatically used when Noctis starts a combo. In the video, the player has Avenger set as the Break weapon. Avenger has no abilities, but is a quick weapon and has balanced stats.
RUSH: Rapid fire strikes in the middle of the combo. You can continue your Rush weapon hits indefinitely until your enemy reaches low enough health to be finished off with a finisher (Slash). The player in the video has the Blood Sword set as the Rush weapon. It has the special ability of HP drain (gif below shows it in action).
SLASH: The last hit of the combo, which deals a significant amount of damage. When the enemy reaches low enough HP that it can be killed in one hit, then your Slash Weapon will get used. The player has the Partizan set as the Slash weapon. Partizan has Heavy Thrust as the special ability (shown in gif below). Tabata highly recommends using heavy weapons as the finisher, like the Partizan. Heavy weapon on Finishers will stagger even slightly larger enemies.
COUNTER: The weapon set here will get used when Noctis counterattacks. This can be after successfully evading an enemy attack with Guard and pressing Attack right after. Noctis can also counterattack after successful parries. The player has the Wyvern Sword set as the Counter weapon, which has Jump as the special ability (show in gif below).
Here is a Counter in action:
RAID: The weapon set here will get used when the player jumps and presses attack in mid air. The player has the Zweihander set as the Raid weapon, which has the special ability called Tempest (see gif below). Tabata clarified that Aerial Attacks are moved to the last part of development since they are among the easiest so the demo wont include too much aerial combat.
And an example of an Aerial Attack can be seen here:
Different weapons have different speeds, weight, range etc, and so it is important to think about which weapon works better where.
Parries and Co-op Attacks:
Some enemy attacks can be parried and countered. In the gif below, the UI element that shows a small arc with three lines signifies that an attack can be parried. The guard button (L1) is used to initiate the parry, and then the Attack button (Square) has to be timed when the counter prompt comes up.
Parries can also chain into Co-Op Attacks. Notice that Square gets pressed twice, first to initiate Prompto's/Ignis's hit, and then for Noctis's swipe.
The co op attacks can only be performed if an ally character is close by when you parry an enemy. Tabata has shared that the co-op moves are really strong and that there is only one co-op move in the demo. It disrupts the balance because they are gradually learned through growth.
Phantom Sword:
This is a special ability that Noctis can activate at max MP with the press of L1+R1. This ability allows Noctis to summon all his Phantom Sword weapons at the same time. When activated, MP starts depleting at a constant rate until it reaches 0. During this time, all abilities cost 0 MP, so they can be spammed.
The normal weapons you regularly use in battle are completely different than the Phantom Sword summon weapons. When you start the demo, you have regular weapons and those wont increase, but you can obtain the Phantom Swords. The Phantom Swords are scattered around on the map, and you obtain them by searching. This is one of the extra elements outside of the story line.
There are two aspects to Phantom Sword - Defence/Idle or Offense.
When defending or idling, the phantom weapons start circling Noctis creating a barrier that reduces/negates enemy attacks.
When attacking, the barrier disappears and the swords start attacking the targeted enemy one by one from above. Each phantom sword falling on the enemy deals damage in addition to the damage Noctis is dealing with his moves.
Noctis also gains the ability of Shift Break (R1+O), which essentially are small warps to close in on enemies. He also gains Shift Avoid (L1+X), but that does not get used in the video, so its purpose is unclear at this stage.
(Note: Even though these shift moves have corresponding buttons, I think they happen automatically. For example, if you are far from an enemy and hold down the Attack button, Noctis will automatically perform Shift Breaks until he gets closer to the enemy. I think so because the basic attack button is held down when Noctis performs the Shift Break. Another point to note is that beside the emblem (Akyueshiro) is a left and right scroll marker, which means there might be even more powers for the actual game.)
And if I'm not forgetting anything, that's pretty much it. Hopefully this makes you a bit more prepared for Final Fantasy XV's combat in the upcoming demo.
---
Credits:
@LeonBlade (for translated images - Weapons, Battle Menu, Weapon Menu)
Raven777 and DarkLordMalik (for some gifs)
Kotaku (Controls)
Gematsu (Main points translated)
Reddit (Weapon System Translation)
